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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24628921">She Knows</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/G_U/pseuds/G_U'>G_U</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Last year She-ra expectations one shots [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Comfort, Family, Family Feels, Gen, Teen Romance</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 00:29:34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,235</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24628921</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/G_U/pseuds/G_U</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A little run through Adoras and Shadow Weaver's relationship at the end of season 4 and my hopes of her redemption arc back then. This was a request from a user of another page almost a year ago.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Adora/Catra (She-Ra)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Last year She-ra expectations one shots [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1780648</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>She Knows</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>She knows, she does. Shadow weaver never put in doubt the fact that she isn't a nice person, heck, not even a nice villain.</p><p>If her life was a book, she'll be the most hated character for sure. Who could love her? After all, she didn't, she couldn't, that's something hard to accept, but she does anyway. She isn't a nice person, she isn't a good villain, and for fuck sake, she is <em>bad</em></p><p>And that's why this unsettles her so much. When she looks at Adora, she feels… weird.</p><p>It's nostalgic, but at the same time, new, like when she tried magic for the first time, no dark magic, but magic perse. She remembers this feeling but is impossible to figure out, from where and when she does. She just… feels, and is awkward and hard, and weird and scary, and in a way... is madness…</p><p>She can't deal with it.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>Adora actually doesn't know much about life. Sure, she knows she likes Catra a lot, she knows that she is grateful to the hoard for saving and rising her (even if they are mean all the time). And she knows that she is being risen to fight a war of years. She knows metal, cold, and rage…</p><p>So, when she feels weird and warm in her tummy, it is scary.</p><p>It doesn't happen much, like, is not <em>really</em> a problem, but it kinda confuses her and lefts her a little goofy for a day or two, until she is capable of trap those things inside her and just go back to be the great soldier she is supposed to be.</p><p>"What's wrong Adora? You keep failing this simple test" Shadow Weaver asks her that every time and she just smiles, a little toothy grin that puts the grown-up out of balance.</p><p>"Just trying to find another way to solve it" she lies, quit well if she may say so herself, "In the battlefield, the plans are not always going to work out as we want them to do".</p><p>Shadow Weaver then pats her head, making her tummy field weird again, but Adora doesn't care now, cause she knows she has to do the things right this time.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>Shadow Weaver has been doing the training for the recruits for years and she can say that she put some of them in their place with time and effort, and, of course, a little of threatening and pain.</p><p>Is her way of doing things.</p><p>But since she saw Adora passing her first-year trial, she started to look after the results of her tests more than any others. Adora was… exceptional, the perfect soldier, she always thinks of a different solution to the problems, always finding a way to overcome what they threw at her. Shadow Weaver is so proud of her girl…</p><p>And then she remembers her position. Suddenly all those feelings seem… wrong, well, not <em>wrong</em>. But… inadequate.</p><p>Adora is just a cadet, just a new soldier, it doesn't matter that Hoardak doesn't care about her, she <em>knows </em>Adora is going to be great.</p><p>"I know…" she whispers, reading again the results of Adora's last test of combat. "You are going to be <em>something</em>…"</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>When Shadow Weaver told her that she would be a captain, she was thrilled. Her dream was becoming true for fuck sake and Hoardaks will!</p><p>Yeah, she was sad for Catra, but hey, she was becoming a Captain!</p><p>But there was more. Something she couldn't put her finger on. Maybe it was the fact that she also just won the training exercise, or maybe was the fact that she and Catra just kinda made out a little ago in their room when nobody was looking, o maybe, just maybe… it was the way Shadow Weaver told her the things…</p><p>She just sounded… happy, but in a weird way.</p><p>If you grew up in a place where weakness is death, and where kindness is weakness, you don't get to see a lot of <em>nice things</em> coming from people around you. She endured enough punishment in her first years for not knowing that.</p><p>But Shadow Weaver just told her that she would be a captain, and she sounded happy, and, and… <em>proud</em>.</p><p>Adora never made anyone feel that way. Not even Catra (heck, she would be crying out loud in jealousy if she doesn't make something to improve her mod latter, maybe a stroll?). So hearing that from Shadow Weaver was… overwhelming.</p><p>Maybe that was the reason why she hugged her and took a run for it before her superior could say anything.</p><p>She'll never know.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>You can't know how important something <em>is </em>to you until you don't have it anymore. Shadow Weaver knows this; she does pretty well for her disgrace.</p><p>Adora is now gone, finally conscious of their actions as a group, and hating her.</p><p>That pains her more than she could've expected it.</p><p>Now she only haves Catra and the other recruits. But truth be told, she doesn't care anymore. And that is pushing her to madness. Cause it's not like Adora is the first deserter they have, it's not like she hadn't faced lost before, Adora is not the first in anything in her life.</p><p>But by the creators, it hurts her.</p><p>She doesn't fully understand why she needs Adora back. She believes her desperate excuse that she will be their ticket to glory and success, but there's more in that, there's more in all she is giving into this.</p><p>"I don't know what I'm doing anymore…" she says, looking at the black Garnet, "Adora…"</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>Being surround by moral support, good intentions, a comfy bed and a <em>lot </em>of understanding are probably some of the things Adora loves but could live without (she just doesn't want all at the same time!). So Bright Moon is quite a hard place for her in its own way.</p><p>Queen Angela and Glimmer are just so much of a support as they are of a charge, and Bow is just the guy she needs when the time comes and she doesn't have a fucking idea of what's going on. But even then…</p><p>She misses the hoard sometimes.</p><p>Not in the way she could want to go back. No, she had enough lies and misinterpretation for one life <em>thanks</em>.</p><p>But she does <em>miss</em> some things. Like Catra and Shadow Weaver.</p><p>Yeah, both of them were bitches, but they were <em>her bitches</em>. Catra just being hers, her problem to handle, her friend to mess with, her… she doesn't actually have a word, maybe Bow or Glimmer have one… but anyway. Her Catra was, <em>is</em>, something she misses.</p><p>Then there is Shadow Weaver.</p><p>Adora misses her, but not like she misses Catra (like she lost something in her chest and she can't properly live without it), but she <em>does </em>miss her. Like, the times she told her she did good, or when she gave her food for being a good girl and keeping Catra in line, or those times when her scary eyes seemed to soften when they looked at her.</p><p>She misses her… her what?</p><p>Adora still can't figure out what she thinks of Shadow Weaver even today, but she does know something about her.</p><p>"You let a mark on me…" she says, looking at the shadows in her room, half expecting the woman to materialized in any moment, "I just don't know how deep it is".</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>Going to Bright Moon is humiliating, but she can stand that.</p><p>She just wants to see her one more time.</p><p>Adora has been winning over all her plans. Even when she had her in her power, even when she was so close to having her back, Shadow Weaver lose her in the middle of the victory, all because she wasn't strong enough.</p><p>Maybe that was what she has to endure for all her life.</p><p>She knows that the chances of the queen forgiving her are close to none. But she can't stand no seeing Adora at least one last time. She <em>does </em>feel bad for Catra, but the girl is <em>lost</em>, not even she could save her, not even Adora could.</p><p>So Shadow Weaver just gives <em>everything</em> to see her, her soldier, her favorite cadet, her girl… her…</p><p>"Oh… so that's what it is…" she says to herself in the middle of the prison they made her in the palace.</p><p>Someone else is in the room now and she just focuses on the girl in front of her. Strong, determined, deceive, implacable… and Shadow weaver just feels… <em>proud.</em></p><p>"<em>Oh, Adora…</em>" she thinks, smiling under the mask, "<em>My little girl… I'm so proud of you…"</em></p><p>Because her <em>daughter </em>is in front of her, and she is more than what Shadow Weaver could ever think she would be.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>Why was she there again?</p><p>Oh yeah, she fucked up.</p><p>Running away with a wanted criminal as your hostage and then fucking her senseless wasn't her best idea.</p><p>Not that this one could be good.</p><p>But well, she didn't know where else to go anyway.</p><p>After everything was said and done, after they survived and came back to peace, after she messed up so bad that the stars couldn't be compared to her worries. Adora found herself in the door of Shadow Weavers' new house in the woods.</p><p>Rass was actually really happy about getting a new friend (Shadow Weaver surely would insist that they were just neighbors). And her house was in a little clearing. Adora admires the plants she was growing, considering if they were dangerous or not when the door opened.</p><p>"Oh, hi Adora" the woman greets her with neutrality, "I haven't seen you around lately".</p><p>"Yeah… well…" she crosses her arms, trying to find the right words, but after a few seconds, she knows that there aren't any and just rolls with it "I messed up so bad…"</p><p>"So I heard" Shadow Weaver replays, letting the basked she was carrying in the ground. "Taking Catra away seconds before her trial is kind of a problem".</p><p>"I know, I know," she says, uncomfortable. "It's just…"</p><p>"Just…?"</p><p>"I… I don't know what to do anymore!" she cries out loud, losing her composure, "Catra is the most important person to me, she is the reason why I did half of the things I did, I can't eat, I can't fight without thinking of her! And now they want to do what? Send her away to Beast Island? Kill her? I can't let that happen!"</p><p>"If you know all that" the older woman replies, "Why are you here?"</p><p>Adora stays silent, pondering her reasons, she could have gone to Glimmer, King Micha, Bow… but she came <em>here</em>, she looked out for the woman that she couldn't trust, in the most important time of her life… Why?</p><p>She knows why, at least she knows now, after seeing Angela and Glimmer, after seeing Bow and his family, after seeing Light Hope and Mara…</p><p>"I... I just need my mom" she finally says, looking at Shadow Weaver in the eyes.</p><p>The woman seems surprised, for a bit, but then Adora sees something she never expects to see.</p><p>Shadow Weaver takes off her mask, her face is a lot better now (Well she kept Catra in those mountains for at least three months, the things <em>had to change</em>) the expression is of a woman… happy, like she finally found <em>something special</em>.</p><p>"Then come my child," shadow Weaver tells her smiling, "I'm here if you need me… same goes for Catra, even if I hadn't been the best mother for her…"</p><p>Adora smiles, even if it takes like forever in her mind. And runs to Shadow Weaver, crushing her in a hug; feeling wholesome in the embrace.</p><p>She is home with her.</p><p>"I'm back mom…" Adora says little tears in her eyes.</p><p>"Welcome back my child… Welcome back…" is the response from Shadow Weaver.</p><p>And Adora <em>knows</em>, she will somehow solve everything now.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>.</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>
      <span>Bonus</span>
    </em>
  </strong>
</p><p>"So…" Catra says, looking at the pair that is receiving her in the little house in the woods.</p><p>Shadow Weaver has apologized (Her for fuck sake did that!) for everything she did wrong in the past to her. Catra doesn't feel like forgiving her, but she is the closest thing she ever had to a mother, so she will take what she can.</p><p>But the thing is, Catra <em>wants</em> to cause a little ruckus.</p><p>"So Adora calls you mom now?" she asks, looking at the unmasked face (still weird, but, hey, is not <em>that ugly</em>, so no complaints), "Do... Do I have to do it too?"</p><p>"You can call me however you like" the older woman responds, "I won't force you to anything."</p><p>"Oh… then, how about… mother?" she asks, and the looks of surprise in Adora's and Shadow Weavers' faces are priceless, but Catra hasn't finished just yet, "In law?"</p><p>Their faces became even better, but she is a devoted believer of the statement: going big or going home.</p><p>"Keep the things with mom by the way, please... Adora already calls me mommy anyway, so it could be confusing" she lets out the coup of grace standing up and going to the door. "I'll be back by sunset, Sweetie, Mother" and with that, she is out.</p><p>"Catra you bitch/Impertinent come back here!" both scream from inside the little house.</p><p>Oh, she <em>knows, </em>she is going to have fun with this family.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Couldn´t resist the bonus.</p><p>You know, I don't usually write other things except for romance, but man… this was hard to come with. But I'm happy I could do it. This was a request from umi ryuzaki (sorry if I got it wrong) on another page. Gotta say, it was weird, but hey, here it is, I hope you like it.</p><p>I gotta say, my mom and I have a pretty good relationship, so the thing with Adora and Shadow weaver was hard, I'm glad I didn't have to make Catras relationship with her (that would've been hell). Anyhow, I'm open for more requests, any fandom you've read my work in, just say what you would like. I can't promise I'll do it right away, but I'd appreciate the escape from the block this gives me.<br/>Also, I followed a lot of posts that said Adora and Catra were already GF I the hoard when they were little but didn't know how to call it when I wrote this, so... that.<br/>So that's all by now, thanks for reading, and please, if you see something wrong or out of place, tell me, I'm still getting the hang of English.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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